1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer holder, and more particularly to a conformable computer holder that steadies the computer on any surface that is flat or irregularly shaped and which has adjustability in multiple directions.
2. Related Art
Lap desks are known. For example, a portable desk is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,944. The lower portion of the desk is a pillow-like portion of flexible material which forms a yieldable container which is partially filled with a dry, flowable material, such as expanded STYROFOAM beads, particles or similar materials. The casing portion is secured at the top to a piece of sub-covering which is secured to a hard material by adhesive, glue or other similar attachments. The beads can shift to allow the pillow-like portion to adjust to the contour of the surface on which it is to be used. An upstanding abutment secured along one side of the desk top forms a stop for books, pencils and similar items to rest against.
As computers have become smaller and portable, such desks have been used to support such computers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,869 discloses a lap table for a portable computer. The lap table has a supple main body with top surface joined to a bottom surface and a sealed hollow interior for containing a filling material which gives the main body a degree of rigidity that is sufficient to support the portable computer. The filling material may be either an inflating gas or beads. The lap table has a wall on the top surface that secures the portable computer to the top surface. However, the base portion of these lap table designs usually flare outwardly, with the sides of the base being in a diverging configuration, to keep the table top horizontal or are otherwise configured to keep the table relatively flat to the horizontal plane or generally parallel to the surface on which the table is resting.
Other types of stands are typically used to hold laptop computers at an angle to the user. Typically, these stands are designed to be placed on a firm horizontal surface, such as a table and so they either have a rigid base rather than a pillow-like or supple base, such as the stand described in the patent application published as US Pub. No. 2009/0179132, or the base portion of the stands maintains the same relative platform shape as the surface on which the computer rests or is held in place, or flares out from the sides as discussed above, such as the stands described in the patent application published as US Pub. No. 2005/0072893.
There have also been computer carrying bags that have been designed particularly for use with tablet computers that have touch sensitive screens. Some of these carrying bags have been designed to allow a user to operate the computer while the computer is connected to the bag, and at least one bag as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,777 even allows an operator to adjust the tilt angle of the computer at different orientations relative to a base surface while the computer is connected to the bag. However, traditional carrying bags are designed like traditional rectangular brief cases in which the computer is held by the bag with its screen in a vertical orientation when the bag is sitting upwardly on a surface, and when the bag is laid down, the screen is arranged at a horizontal orientation relative to the surface. Accordingly, in order to achieve different tilt angles, these traditional computer carrying bags typically require an arrangement of panels or other external framework that extend from the outer surface of the compartment portion of the bag to serve as a stand for both the bag and the computer. For example, the '777 Patent referenced above uses external semi-rigid panels covered by a flexible material so that the panels can be connected and folded relative to each other to prop up the carrying bag and vary the tilt of the computer and the bag.